The present invention relates to vehicle surroundings monitoring systems employing a plurality of cameras for capturing the surroundings of the vehicle, and in particular relates to technologies for synthesizing partial images taken from each of the camera images and presenting an image with which the user can readily understand the circumstances of the vehicle surroundings.
Conventional systems for monitoring the surroundings of a vehicle using cameras, such as those disclosed in JP H10-257482A (hereinafter referred to as document 1) and JP H11-78692A (hereinafter referred to as document 2), are known.
In the system set forth in document 1, a camera is provided in the center of the rear portion of the vehicle and one camera each is provided near the left and right side rear-view mirrors. The images from these cameras, which are attached facing rearward, are aligned so that their points at infinity match, and thus a rear view image with a wide viewing range is presented to the driver. Accordingly, the user can obtain the road conditions to the left, right, and rear of the vehicle as a single virtual image, and thus can more readily ascertain the overall conditions.
Document 2 discloses a technology for modifying and synthesizing images captured by each of eight cameras to create a new image and displaying this created image on a monitor, where the cameras are attached to the periphery of the vehicle for the purpose of providing images for the vehicle. In particular, when the images captured by the plurality of cameras are modified in shape and synthesized, image contiguity is maintained at the border portions where the modified images are adjacent to one another, so that a more precise image can be provided to the driver.